Hi Friend,

Last week, elections in both the UK and France gave us real-life examples of how Big Tech could affect the US elections in November.

From convincing deepfakes of British Members of Parliament spreading on X [1], to false claims that the French elections were “rigged” across social media [2], the real-world impact of Big Tech on democracy couldn’t be more clear.

With less than four months until our own elections here in the US, it’s critical that Big Tech immediately puts protections in place. Building on our election integrity recommendations for tech platforms, we have been naming the threats and working to mitigate them—calling out Meta for the decision to limit ‘political’ content in feeds as just one example. [3]

There is much more work to be done to protect democracy, and we’re only just getting started. Will you pitch in to support this critical work?

CHIP IN TODAY

Our approach draws from the expertise of democracy advocates, tech researchers, and even the platforms’ own insights to push for broad, content-agnostic interventions to mitigate the harm of bad actors, ensure transparency, and increase trust in democratic processes. [4]

We can learn from recent elections. Platforms can and should put design interventions in place to help inform voters and give accurate information, preventing the proliferation of disinformation.

In France, the final election results gave a left-wing alliance the plurality of parliamentary seats, despite widespread predictions that the right-wing National Rally would win. [5] This wasn’t due to election irregularities, as some online falsely claimed, but rather how France’s democratic system is designed to work. Multiple rounds of voting give candidates time to drop out and form coalitions to block a common opponent. [6]

The bottom line is that — even despite simple explanations like this —Big Tech gives bad actors a platform to spread lies before people reach the truth. That’s why it is so critical that social media platforms immediately implement safeguards ahead of the November elections here in the U.S. Support Accountable Tech in fighting for Big Tech to prioritize election integrity.

Thanks for being with us,

Nicole Gill
Co-founder and Executive Director
Accountable Tech

Sources:

1. BBC: Labour’s Wes Streeting among victims of deepfake smear network on X
2. News Guard Reality Check: French Election: Surprise Results, Familiar False Claims
3. Washington Post: Content creators ask Meta to reverse politics limits on Instagram, Threads
4. Accountable Tech: Democracy By Design
5. Politico: How France voted: Charts and maps
6. If you can keep it: From the U.K. and France, two lessons for the future of U.S. democracy

Chip in to support our work holding Big Tech accountable: CHIP IN

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